Major Picasso exhibit at Art Institute

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(Caryn Rousseau/AP)

"Mother and Child" is one of 250 works on display at "Picasso and Chicago," a major exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago through May 12. The Art Institute was the first museum in the nation to feature Picasso's work a century ago, in 1913. This exhibit features paintings, drawings, works on paper, ceramics and sculptures.

By CARYN ROUSSEAU
The Associated Press

CHICAGO – A century after the Art Institute of Chicago became the first American museum to show work by Pablo Picasso, the institution is celebrating the Spanish artist with a major exhibition featuring his art and its relationship with the city.

“Picasso and Chicago” features 250 works – nearly half of the museum’s own Picasso collection along with pieces from private collections and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s the Chicago museum’s first major Picasso exhibition in three decades.

“One of my hopes is that people can appreciate the art and enjoy it, but then also at the same time, sort of fall back in love with these works for the history that they represent,” exhibit curator Stephanie D’Alessandro said.

One of Picasso’s designs is a well-known city attraction, a 50-foot-tall steel sculpture at the downtown Richard J. Daley Center. Children often play on the massive piece in summer, while visitors debate what the enigmatic artwork depicts.

But the artist and the city have a deeper relationship than simply a tourist attraction, museum president and director Douglas Druick said.

“There’s a link between Chicago and Picasso in terms of temperament,” Druick said. “A restlessness, a desire to improve, a desire to change, a desire never to stand still.”

The museum became the first in the nation to feature Picasso when it decided to give space to the 1913 Armory Show, which the museum says introduced European modernism to an American audience. It was a move Druick describes as bold and daring for the time because even though the exhibit was presented in New York and Boston, it was only shown in a museum in Chicago.

“We were the only museum willing to take the risk to show the paintings and sculpture that had drawn so much criticism and ire when shown in New York,” Druick said.

“Picasso and Chicago” features paintings, drawings, works on paper, ceramics and sculptures, including “Old Guitarist,” “Mother and Child” and Picasso’s 1906 self-portrait. It runs chronologically from the artist’s early years in Barcelona to his late years in the south of France.

The exhibit opened Wednesday and runs through May 12. It is accompanied by related exhibitions throughout the Art Institute’s other galleries, including installations such as “Picasso and Cezanne,” “Picasso, Paris and African Art” and “Picasso and American Art.”